Finally, Gold Coast Titans are daring to dream of a top eight finish

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EVEN when the Titans were on a five-game losing streak and wooden spoon favourites, Ashley Harrison never doubted they could reach the NRL finals.

"No. Not once. We've had strong belief within the squad here that we'd be there," Harrison said. "Even though we weren't playing and winning, we ended up knocking off a few good sides away from home, so the signs were always there.

"We were just that small touch off the mark and we knew that. We've had a bit of a run now and we've just got to keep improving."

That 1-5 start to the season might have been a difficult beginning and even though they were still only 2-8 after 10 weeks, the Titans are now within reach of a dream finals return as the NRL season enters the final fortnight.

Gold Coast currently sit 10th, a win and points differential outside the top eight.

But with an away game against 15th Penrith tomorrow and a home clash with Manly still to play they remain an outside chance of making the finals.

The Titans have beaten both the Panthers and Sea Eagles this year, so the internal expectation is that they will finish the season strongly and give themselves every chance at claiming what many considered to be mission impossible four months ago.

"We still haven't played the perfect game yet and (executed) the things we've practised all pre-season," Harrison said. "We're just looking to improve on what we did last week and look after this week. We will deal with what comes after that when it comes.

"We've just got to go down there with the right attitude that we've got to complete our sets and build pressure on teams. That is something we haven't done for a while.

"If we do that we give ourselves every chance."

Harrison said the big difference between building this year's poor start into a finals possibility and last year, when a 3-7 start ended up with a wooden spoon, is the certainty in the spine of the team.

Fullback William Zillman (19 games), rookie five-eighth Aidan Sezer (16), halfback Scott Prince (20) and hooker Matt Srama (22) have been mainstays, whereas last year the Titans churned through five five-eighths, four fullbacks, two halfbacks and four hookers.